MEXICO CITY (AP) — The former attorney general who oversaw Mexico's original investigation into the 2014 disappearances of 43 students from a radical teachers college will go to trial on charges of forced disappearance, not reporting torture and official misconduct, a judge ruled Wednesday.
An illegal dirt road ripping through protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon is now just a few miles shy of connecting two of the worst areas of deforestation in the region, according to satellite images and accounts from people familiar with the area.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Persistent power outages and threats from Puerto Rico’s government prompted a company that operates the island’s transmission and distribution system to announce Wednesday that it would dedicate more resources and crews to improve service.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Weeks ahead of Brazil’s presidential election, police carried out search warrants Tuesday targeting several business leaders who allegedly participated in a private chat group that included comments favoring a possible coup and military involvement in politics.
HAVANA (AP) — Cubans lined up by the dozens at exchange houses on Tuesday for the chance to buy dollars and other hard currency from the government for the first time in two years.
The new policy announced Monday night comes almost three weeks after the communist government began buying hard currency from the public at 110.40 pesos per dollar — a rate similar to that of the black market and more than four times the rate used for official transactions.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — When Guatemalan investigators raided the home of the alleged leader of a migrant smuggling ring in mountains near the Mexican border, they found some $51,000 in coins, nearly 100 slot machines and late-model vehicles purchased with cash.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's police force said a newspaper misreported Tuesday that it suspended operations to forcibly eradicate coca fields as the country's new leftist government seeks to change its approach to dealing with illegal drugs.
SAO PAULO (AP) — The embalmed heart of the emperor who declared Brazil's independence returned to the South American nation Tuesday for ceremonies worthy of a head of state as the country prepares to celebrate its bicentennial.
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to sentence Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández to 12 years in prison and bar her from holding public office for life for allegedly leading a criminal conspiracy that irregularly awarded public works contracts to a friend and ally.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Thousands of protesters in Haiti’s capital and other major cities blocked roads, shut down businesses and marched through the streets Monday to demand that Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down and to call for a better quality of life.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running to return to the job, said on Monday his rival, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, is taking the low road against him and his family on the campaign trail.
NEW YORK (AP) — Weary of Venezuela's autocratic government and the pittance he earned in the military, Dario Maldonado deserted and fled with his family to neighboring Colombia.
But life remained hard — money was tight and expenses mounted.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Opera star Placido Domingo's name has appeared in an investigation of a sect-like organization in Argentina that also had U.S. offices and whose leaders have been charged with crimes, including sexual exploitation.
VIDA Y ESPERANZA, Mexico (AP) — Mexico’s ambitious Maya Train project is supposed to bring development to the Yucatan Peninsula, but along the country’s Caribbean coast it is threatening the Indigenous Maya people it was named for and dividing communities it was meant to help.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has taken another step to rehabilitate Cardinal Angelo Becciu, inviting the once-powerful Vatican prelate to an upcoming meeting of cardinals two years after Francis forced his resignation based on purported financial improprieties.
LES CAYES, Haiti (AP) — The cinderblock home with a tin roof that Erline Castel and Dieunord Ernest rented was among the more than 130,000 houses damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck southern Haiti last year, killing more than 2,200 people.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis voiced worry Sunday about the situation in Nicaragua, where police detained several Roman Catholic clergy, including a bishop, critical of President Daniel Ortega’s administration.
MIAMI (AP) — A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela's socialist government not only did no apparent work, but also channeled a large chunk of the money to a yacht company on behalf of a fugitive billionaire, according to new allegations in a civil suit.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Federal prosecutors said Friday they have arrested the attorney general in Mexico's previous administration on charges he committed abuses in the investigation of the 2014 disappearances of 43 students from a radical teacher college.
MELIPEUCO, Chile (AP) — Mist suddenly arose from the Truful Truful River as it flowed below the snow-covered Llaima volcano, and Victor Curin smiled at the sun-dappled water spray.
A leader in one of the Indigenous communities by the river’s shores in the Chilean Andes, Curin took it as a sign that the waterfall’s ngen — its owner and protector spirit — approved of his visit and prayer that mid-July morning.
ALONG THE PILMAIQUEN RIVER, Chile (AP) — A ceremonial dip in the frigid waters of the fast-flowing Pilmaiquen River in southern Chile was the culmination of the multiday celebration of We Tripantü, one of the most sacred holidays for the Mapuche, the country’s largest Indigenous group.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaraguan police on Friday raided the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop critical of President Daniel Ortega’s administration, detaining him and several other priests in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the church and a government increasingly intolerant of dissent.
PHOENIX (AP) — A Mexican man was sentenced to 38 years in prison for killing an Arizona convenience store clerk during a 2015 robbery that was cited by former President Donald Trump and other Republicans in complaints about immigrants who commit crimes while in the U.S.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan police used tear gas and made six arrests as rival soccer fans clashed ahead of a regional qualifying game between Municipal of Guatemala and Olimpia of Honduras.
At least seven people were injured in the disturbance late Thursday, including five police officers, according to police spokesman Edwin Monroy.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro briefly grappled with a heckler and tried to snatch his phone on Thursday, underscoring possible challenges for the sometimes quick-tempered leader to stay disciplined on the campaign trail.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Truth Commission established to clear up the 2014 disappearances of 43 students in southern Mexico said Thursday the army was responsible at least for not stopping the abductions because a soldier had infiltrated the student group and the army knew what was happening.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor on Thursday denounced the private company his administration contracted to take over the island’s power transmission and distribution system amid a recent spike in electricity outages that have outraged many in the U.S.
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Paraguay Vice President Hugo Velázquez Moreno said Thursday he will not resign from his post, backtracking on a vow he made last week shortly after he was included on a U.S. corruption list for his alleged involvement in offering bribes to a public official.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has removed a top environmental official in a potential act of retribution, just days after he appeared in a report on illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest for the Brazilian television station Globo.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — One of the last remaining official pillars of Guatemala's effort to root out corruption leaves his post this week, following the ouster or departure of a series of other anti-graft campaigners who had shaken the Central American nation's governing class.
HAVANA (AP) — A Colombian guerrilla group says it has freed six captive members of the security forces in a goodwill gesture ahead of planned peace talks with the government of new President Gustavo Petro.
MIAMI (AP) — U.S. investigators say they have noticed an uptick in the amount and caliber of weapons being smuggled from Florida to Haiti in recent months.
Anthony Salisbury, chief of the Miami Homeland Security Investigations office, said agents are increasing their efforts to stop the trafficking, noting rising gang violence around Haiti's capital.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — With 50,000 people locked up since late March for alleged gang ties, El Salvador’s congress has approved another month-long extension of the state of exception that suspends some fundamental rights in the name of combatting the country’s powerful gangs.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In the Brazilian Amazon these days, it's nearly impossible to run for office talking up the environment.
More common is a scene like this: A candidate for Congress parades a helicopter — the symbol of illegal gold mining — painted with the Brazilian flag, through the streets of the Amazon city of Boa Vista.
JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's presidential election campaign officially began Tuesday with former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leading all polls against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro amid growing concern of political violence and threats to democracy.
PHOENIX (AP) — An effort by Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to use shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the U.S.-Mexico border wall near Yuma suffered a brief setback when two stacked containers somehow toppled over.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — For the second year in a row, Arizona and Nevada will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River as the West endures more drought, federal officials announced Tuesday.